@@Synergy7Studios He did say how. The Navy takes it back and does roughly 2 years of work on it but thats never gonna happen because it doesnt belong to the Navy. Ryan keeps notes just incase but i think its really for future curators and volunteers.
@@michaelkennedy272 The contract says that the Navy can terminate the contract and repossess the ship at any time if deemed necessary. So yeah, they can take it back if they want to. Read the Iowa's contract here. I'm sure it's about identical: www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/TeamShips/SEA21/InactiveShips/Donation/museum_transfer_contracts/Iowa_Transfer_Contract.pdf
Its to prevent a massive explosion of some kind, or steam cutting stuff.. Ever see them light a boiler lol. Much less the old pipes they could forget one that happens to not be on a schematic and flash boil an entire section of the ship, or worse.. All that has to stand up to Xray examination before signed off on... now anyway. if all of them were burning for an extended period, pop. it would take so much work out of water to bring her back to ability to move. things will have to be cut open on the hull ect. its so much effort a staff of volunteers could never manage it on a capital ship. Unfortunately. Smaller ships, heckin yeah man all day they got a couple that run at least electrical under their own power in the DD class and the like unless im mistaken..
@@jeffjr84 I remember there being an old cargo ship that could run under its own power. The only load it carries, however, is some fuel and a pallet of water bottles.
While these ships are some of the most massive war machines ever built, and certainly fascinating in terms of their time, by the time Iowas were built they were already close to obsolescence or past it. War isn't fought with thick armor and direct fire anymore. While it's neat to see these, if the navy recommissioned a battleship I would shake my head in utter disbelief, unless some set of circumstances meant that air and missile power no longer worked...and in that weird case, how is a battleship going to shoot miles out? There's just no use for these anymore, outside of a teaching history environment. This is where they belong, not at sea or underway. They'd just become a massive tomb for thousands if we ever got desperate enough to reactivate them anyways.
“If the Navy had to take these over again, which they couldn’t do because it does not belong to them” At this point if the Navy came for a 100 year old battleship shit has really hit the fan and they’re not going to care about it being someone’s museum
We don't actually. We've read our contract pretty thoroughly. We have many rules, but keeping them in fighting shape is not one of them. Thats what mothballed ships are, we've been removed from the register and are considered disposed of.
Battleship New Jersey my point was if they need it, things have gone sideways in a big way. In wartime the govt seized machine shops and tooling for the effort.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Yeah. In the movie, they had absolutely no other option than to reactivate that ship (well... if they wanted a ship with weapons). It was literally the only ship with weapons available in that area with no possibility for backup. If you decide to watch it, please record yourself. You could make that a reaction video for the scenes where they get that ship running again. XD
In truth, if they need an Iowa-class type battleship again, they're just better off building a brand new one from scratch and use 21st Century technology like what's in a nuclear submarine or Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier.
Who wouldn't want to see one of these operating? If they weren't so expensive to operate...... I remember when Jimmy Carter wanted to scrap them ! We are lucky to have these four dormant volcanoes.
I've said the same thing about if the Navy were to ever bring back the Tomcat. Though in the 0.001% chance that would ever happen I wouldn't be able to fly since I dont have 20/20 vision. Oh well... We have our own dreams. 😉
@@SOU6900 Supposedly we sold some f-14's to Iran when they were an ally. Those were never returned and whereabouts unknown. Since they could technically now be in the hands or our enemies, to ensure that no f-14 air-frame could ever be used to get one of the missing ones flying, they cut thru the Titanium wing pivot mechanism. I have read that every single one was cut so that if it ever flew, the wings would not pivot and would break off as soon as they created lift. So if all of this is true (Reasonably sure it is) you will never see another F-14 fly.
@John Stauffer>>>> He should hire my ex wife she was so anal she'd count the water spots on her car and let me know where each one is so I can wax it again ...
@@thekingsilverado9004 with my ex it was spots on the shower door and/or the bathroom faucet. I simply refused to clean the bathroom for about a year and left it for her.. After that, if she had complaints, I never heard about them.
Quickly! We must save them all! you guys take jersey, me and my lot will take Iowa and drag texas' cold steel ass through the ocean to a tropical island to repairs and a comfy life of lounging around the bay!
Imagine- you go through all the trouble to steal and repair a battleship- just to have it sunk minutes after leaving port, because you neglected to steal an aircraft carrier to get air support.
Respectfully, I'd disagree. The New Jersey CZcams presence helps make it unique, and must help to drive footfall / sponsorship money towards the ship. Missouri and Wisconsin both get many times the number of visitors New Jersey gets (they don't need that boost) - leaving CZcams to New Jersey helps a sister museum raise cash.
I must admit that I'm quite surprised that "Battleship" isn't required viewing so that the staff here knows how to stave off an alien invasion should the aliens ever return. It's kinda like Scotsmen who haven't watched the historical documentary "Braveheart." Well, just how do they plan of ever ridding themselves of the English?
"historical documentary "Braveheart." " Quite witty actually. Thou art a man of class and style! I admit to enjoying classy humor as there's not so much of it on CZcams LOL.
@@BattleshipNewJersey And that's exactly the kind of complacency the alien invaders are counting upon. Write to your Congressional represenatives today!
I hate battleship, literally 2 minutes on google will tell you that dropping the anchor while answering a high bell is a good way to lose the forecastle or the anchor
By the time you get to the point where reactivating a WW-II battleship seems like a good idea, you are probably at the point where nukes are an option also...
Or you have some ridiculously specific conditions. About the only real reason to do it would be if somebody seriously fortified some beaches. Any other conditions would render the BB moot. For example, if the target is more than ~15 miles inland, it is out of realistic bombardment range (considering accuracy and sea keeping).
@@timberwolf1575 the new rail guns that are coming online are designed in part to do the shore bombardment mission with much smaller and lighter hardware and ammo iirc. Also more accurate; I think the projectiles might be able to steer in flight. If not they're still going much faster so the wind and gravity will have less of an effect.
@@Synergy7Studios That's why you take a battleship hull, stick a nuclear reactor in it and replace the 16 inchers with rail guns. It'll have the power to run the rail guns and hte size to mount big ones with plenty of ammo storage capability.
@@Riceball01 You’ve just created a multi-billion dollar target/source of radioactive waste when hit by an enemy railgun projectile or tactical nuclear weapon. No need for a specialized battleship hull. Build something based on a supertanker; it would be much cheaper and no less useful.
@@mebsrea no iowa class battleship was ever sunk. The armor on the hull was so thick it could not be penetrated by conventional means torpedo or projectile including its own 16 inch guns. It would be much less of a target than you think. If uou are going to use nukes, a battleship is a much lesser target than what you would use it for ie a city or an infrastructure target
For all those fantasizing about this battleship ever being "reactivated" go look at how fast the tanker industry, container ships, and the cruise ship industry send ships with no purpose to a breaking yards in pakistan or india. It cost gobes of money to keep a ship sitting around doing nothing, and mountains of cash to reactivate a new ship after it has been sitting around. They scrap almost completely new ships everyday, for lack of a purpose. now add in ancient battle ship parts that all have to be custom made. It us not like restoring an old car. There are no junk yards to find parts. If it was not a museum, it would be scrap metal.
@@markusz4447 Like they have any choice. When Britain is still on rationing programs up until the early 1950's while Germany and Japan lifted their even before the 1940's ended...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 I can understand why they had to do it. But for THE navy nation to not at least keep 1 like the Warspite i.e. is a bit of a shame really
I really like the idea of maintaining the appearance by putting the pipe back in place over it. Some less meticulous / caring museums might just chop it off and plate it over.
Texas is doing the best they can with a ship that's far older than ours and decommissioned 50 years before us. They also were the first to do much of this work and didn't have others to learn from, as we do.
Seriously, go look at any nozel that comes out of a pressure vessle. Weld a repad around the pipe and then weld the pipe to it. You can instal the repad in two pieces so it fits past the flange.
@@BattleshipNewJersey If this valve was an electrical hookup for the same purpose, it would be called "hotel power". This is the same idea and how commuter trains are ready to occupy first thing in the morning. Actually pausing for a thought, your steam valve is more or less the same thing railroads did in the steam days for bringing an engine back around and preheating passenger trains from station platforms. Not everywhere of course but it was one method.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Agreed. It's very easy to criticize other people if you've never walked a mile in their shoes. I'm sure they would love to maintain the ship in perfect condition, but there are only so many dollars to go around. Folks should talk to their elected officials about providing funding. These ships are most definitely a benefit to the economy of their areas.
Not only do they instantly fire it up in the movie _Battleship,_ they fix it all and crewed it with, line, 20 people. And that included a broadside or 2.
they did have 2 modern destroyer's crew, and the vets, and there is no way the museum staff wouldn't want in. so they likely had at lest 500-600 people, but there is still no way they would get her running so fast. (also they had the people who where still at pearl harbor to help, so the ship was likely fully crewed)
Missouri vet here. The term you're searching for is "willing suspension of disbelief." I'm willing to suspend disbelief enough to grant that, given an all-night surge of 'round the clock effort by Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, the battleship could have been physically ready to light off in the morning. I'm willing to grant that enough veterans could be found on Oahu to crew her. I'm willing to grant that, on a base like Pearl, enough obsolete ammo could be found for at least a partial combat loadout. But I'm NOT willing to grant that, with all the active and retired captains and admirals on the beach, they would let a new lieutenant command her! (Oh, and when that 16" shell was HAND-CARRIED down Broadway, when there's a monorail RIGHT THERE intended for JUST that purpose, I really lost it!)
The laundry uses steam for heat. Hot water for habitation uses steam for heat. The Galley equipment particularly the serving tables and the kettles are steam heated. I am sure that somewhere there is a habitat heating system for maintaining the temperature inside the hull for people comfort purposes. In modern ships , chill water is run for AC purposes .
I noticed the rust and corrosion around the steam pipe right away, then you mentioned the water running down the outside of it into the berthing compartment below. I wondered how you guys were going to deal with that problem. The answer is pretty straight forward. Your reactivation estimate of one to two years might have been true 10 years ago, but now I would estimate that the length of time to do the job would be three years UNLESS the yard worked 24/7 nonstop and had all the materials necessary (which they won't.) I'd hate to see what would have to be done with the boilers alone, even those laid up properly degrade and corrode internally over time. I was on active duty the last time the four sisters were brought back into service, it was a hell of a job for three of the four ... your Lady was the most straight forward due to the work put into her during the 1967 reactivation, but now even she will need a lot of work. I'm glad you folks are taking good care of her, she and her sisters are treasures and pieces of history worthy of preservation.
quick googling told me it took 3-4years to build those ships, its weird to think it would now take 2-3 years get them back working but i understand why, most of the time its simple easier to build new than fix old
@@kiiiisu Yeah having to try and gut a fully built ship is a lot harder than piecing one together before everything is welded, bolted and riveted into place.
The Iowa class, South Dakota class, Bismarck class and King George V class battleships were some of the best looking in the world. But I as a Canadian, am partial to the Tribal class destroyers because HMCS Haida is our pride and joy. *And the last tribal class on earth*
It would be easier to start over from scratch. I've been reading what a lot of the old crewmen from the Nineties had to say about the IOWAs, that yardbirds were having to make spare parts for them by hand because the original manufacturers are no longer in business. They've been gone since the 1950s. And that was thirty years ago.
@@BattleshipNewJersey there is always the expression about there "being a waiver for everything." Although trying to find a way to make the galley operational without using steam, and preserving the appearance as the design constraints pretty much makes it a project that would likely need an eccentric willing to blow a lot of money. Money that could be better spent on other projects inside the ship.
Short of loading munitions on board, there aren't many things more dangerous than live steam. The "steam" you see rising from your teapot or pasta water is NOT steam, it it water vapor...basically hot fog. Live steam is the gaseous phase of water (solid/liquid/gas) and contains a LOT of heat energy. The heat, pressure, and steam flow will degrade piping from the inside out, requiring regular inspections of the entire steam system to maintain safety. On the high-pressure side at 600 PSI the temperature of the steam is about 850 degrees F. A standard broom with a wooden handle is used to search for leaks, as live steam is invisible. Basically, when half the broom disappears, you've found your leak. If you find it first, half of you disappears. A HP steam leak can literally cut a man in half. Low pressure steam such as found in the galley for the steam-jacket kettles is around 50 PSI and about 300 degrees F. A good leak could almost instantly cook whatever body part it came in contact with, then remove the cooked meat from the bone. A failure of a safety valve on a boiler could result in a burst boiler, generally called a "boiler explosion" for good reason. If people are in the boiler room at the time, they will not survive. Chances of survival in the neighboring spaces is iffy at best. So, I guess your "nightmare scenario" would be a burst pipe turning a group of visitors into a pile of dismembered, de-boned, well done stew meat. Sorry for being so graphic, but you only get to screw up with live steam once. Chances are that a screwup will either kill you or leave you wishing that it had. Welcome to my world for 2 1/2 years of service on a US Navy vessel with a 600-PSI plant. You just try to be as safe as possible, be aware, and don't think of the many things around you that could be instantly lethal.
@@whackyjinak4978 If you're going to do that then why not just use a modern missile cruiser like a Kirov lol, you can fit modern equipment to any obsolete ship that doesn't make it practical.
I'm really glad to hear that you keep a book of alterations. Documentation is so important. I'm really glad you keep features like this in place too. Even little details like that pipe fascinate me. Would sealing the space around the pipe with silicone have worked so you didn't have to cut it?
No it wouldn't. In combat, one missile could cripple maybe even sink the whole ship. İt would be a very expensive and old shooting Practice for any enemy.
@@MisterCaprisun The same missile would take a Zumwalt to the bottom just the same as an Iowa class. And the Zumwalt have less space and less spare buoyancy to mount anti-missile defenses.
@@aaronp3411 of Course it would. The thing is, zumwalt(s) are so much harder to detect,(I hate zumwalt Class btw) and they have so much higher chance of fighting back
Can you do a video on how the battleship used to give artillery support? Like how the soldiers relayed it to the battleship then what happened from there? I’m reading a book about the marines in the pacific theatre and how the ships used to help them out. I’m interested on how the information got relayed and how the ship and ground forces worked together in situations like that.
The youtube comments talk about this stuff. Guys in trouble get on the radio, they get patched to the con tower on the battleship. They give coordinates and get outta dodge (at least 1/4 mile away) 9x 2000-lb bombs screaming faster than the speed of sound blow the enemy to kingdom come. Alternatively, the ship can fire one at a time for effect and the ground troops give guidance for where to walk the next shell.
I served aboard a destroyer tender, USS Dixie AD-14. We would typically steam 1 boiler and 1 or 2 generators in port. DDs that came alongside were supplied with auxiliary steam, power and fresh water. Water would come from the pier. If we went "cold iron", everything came from the pier. These connections were for more than getting underway.
The presence of the curator cannot be completely described by shapes. Simply due to experimental error in trying to measure it, his position can never be known with certainty. It can, at best, be approximated, in this case with an uncertainty of a deck and a half lol.
I like the fact that you are trying to keep the ships features as original as possible and make spaces safe for visitors. I'm the Restoration Specialist from the USS Stewart and USS Cavalla so here is a quick horror story for you. Both of our ships were basically destroyed by the previous "restoration staff". Almost all of the ships features were torched off and scrapped leaving only a bare main deck for visitors to see. Big holes were cut in the side of the ships and many bulkheads were mutilated while trying to make an "exhibit". To make thinks worse men with spray guns came inside and sprayed all bulkheads white and all equipment including indicators, signs, doors, tools, whatever you can imagine. Oil leaks plagued the ship so original documents from the 40s were used as grease rags, most of which I was unable to salvage. The aft. crews berth hatches and scuttles got torched and strange angle iron spikes where welded in its place to attempt a tile floor in there. I popped one open just to find all the remaining artifacts were thrown down in the bilge and devoured by rust and whatever chemical agents were still lingering down there. Also the ship is being fed 500VAC when its needs 440V or less so the old transformers in the engine rooms are probably going to explode one day. I could go on like this all day but having that said I very much appreciate those who care and preserve our history. keep up the good work!
You sir need to reach out to Drachinifel and so a collaboration. Im sure he would be super eager to do videos with you and i suspect it would drive a huge amount of traffic your way. As soon as the pandemic is over he is likely to do some ship tours and reviews. it would be great to see the two of you team up.
@@lawdawg1942 it sounds like he may be doing youtube full time now. I have no idea how he can work a full time job and put out so much quality content. It's superhuman
The first thing that comes to mind for me when it comes to reactivating the Iowa class is that there are no boiler technicians in the active duty Navy anymore. You'd either have to recall a bunch of 50+ year old sailors to run her or you'd have to convert her to gas turbine. To completely rethink and redo all of her engineering and power systems would be WAY too expensive. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see her sail again. I was on an AOR class during my active duty days and was very proud to see her come along side for refueling more than ones. An awesome sight making me glad she was on our side.
Why not just build a new ship with modern technologies but with a big gun and armour battleship concept?...a long range auto loading gun firing a couple hundred pounds of "fuck you buddy" at even longer ranges than the old ones...probably more accurate with GPS guided rounds like they use in land based artillery..and with metallurgy being more advanced...why not some chobram armour like the Abrams tank 🤔....why not scale up a Abrams tank gun to 10in or so and put it on a ship shooting kinetic rods, hesh or canister shot 🤷♂️
All Battleship New Jersey CZcams channel`s style in one video - Ryan sitting near some cool WW2-era stuff and discover some secrets about amazing feature, bug or technology. No any cool music, visual effects, etc. Just one scene, bunch of information, common sense and history. And I cant stop watching this videos...
Truth be told Iowa was scheduled to go back out in 2005, Missouri and Wisconsin were supposed to go into reserves and be placed in dry dock for further refit and/or maintenance. Cheney dropped the bomb just after the first gulf war and said the battleship was too costly to maintained, I was in the Navy at the time and one of the few "kids" aboard Missouri, a young GM learning the trade from veterans. Thing is I'd love to see the big girls come back but agree it would take years to get em back to spec as well as rebuilding both ammunition and replacement parts. On that subject remember one thing the blueprints are still in the archives the Navy never throws paperwork away! Perhaps they'll build newer BBs or even a battle cruiser with the new rail gun and hyper velocity missile system and again they may not. One thing though is certain there is no better platform for shore bombardment, 1800 pound hi-caps will decimate a good patch of land especially in a full salvo, secondly Marines loved having "that big grey monster" at their back they knew we were covering their asses! As to accuracy, you give us the correct coordinates, and we can lay 16 inch ordinance on the pitchers mound in Yankee stadium from the harbor. Never say never, but with this new Navy who knows.🙄
I was on the New Jersey with my scout troop. I was told by an old sailor that the high pressure steam, needed throughout the system, he said 100+psi is now considered a very inefficient system. He told me that modern vessels use a much lower operating pressure, which is less dangerous, and doesn’t require such high maintenance on seal and valves. Btw, the scouts loved the ship, it was a fantastic weekend for scouts and scouters!
Actually the main steam was superheated to 800 degrees F at a pressure of 600+ psig this is considered low pressure as newer steam powered vessels operated at 1200 psig which greatly increases fuel efficiency but can lower reliability of the overall system without proper and constant PM. Look up 'Making Steam:The Life and Times of a US Navy Chief Engineer".
That's a bummer about the galley. It would have been a nice little boost to the museum's piggie bank to be able to sell visitors food in the same place that their grandfathers dined.
Pretty sure all the museum ships have a part in them about "in case of national emergency, the contract can be terminated and the Navy can re-take the vessel as-is, where-is" I would assume New Jersey has the same clause. I know Iowa does, and most of the other ones do as well. So even though the ship "belongs" to the museum.....it really doesn't. They can absolutely take it back if they deem it necessary....which, they obviously are very unlikely to do, but technically speaking....they can.
@@NFSgadzooks Its still true regardless what clause was repealed . Until that ship is cut up and melted down into new steel , the US govt can take it back at their leisure .
@@NFSgadzooks Iowa's contract was signed after she had already been stricken. So no, that clause is still in effect. The Navy can always come take the ships back if they want. They actually thought about taking back the Massachusetts and the North Carolina back in the 80s but ultimately just decided to strip parts off of them
You also need steam to run heaters, galley equipment and other steam systems when in port with the boilers in cold iron. The steam connection can also supply steam to other ships. After the 1989 SF earthquake navy ships were used to speed up restarting of power plants using their steam and shore power connections.
That is a 150 psi shore steam line to supply steam to ships services like water heaters, galley steam kettles, steam heat and most importantly the boiler steam blanket. The steam blanket is to keep the boilers with steam to keep air (oxygen)out of the boilers to prevent corrosion inside the 1" boiler tubes leading to a ruptured tube and loss of the boiler till repairs can be made.
Seems reasonable for the govt. to have a stipulation that, although we will give you this battleship, we don't want you to actually activate it and terrorize the eastern seaboard :-)
They would never use shore steam to light off the boilers. Shore stream was meant for the auxiliary steam components. Galley, hot water, heaters and such. Shore steam was too dirty, if you ran shore steam through the boilers it would take weeks to get the boiler steam clean enough to keep the boiler tubes from scaling. There is a chemistry involved in boiler water. Once the boilers were lit, and running on their own, then the shore steam would be shut off and disconnected and the ship would provide those services it’s self. The main reason for shore steam was so they could shut down the boilers for maintenance. In some cases it took a week or longer to get the boilers lit and stable before the ship could get underway.
@@microsoftword213 No, the shore steam would just go to the auxiliary equipment, heaters, galley equipment. There would be check valves to prevent shore steam to be routed into the main steam lines.
Many years after your comment, as the drydocking has just finished, it’s great that the “keep the water on the outside” is still a common and funny phrase. It’s so hilariously obvious. Dare I say, it’s a slightly British humour.
Hey Ryan and crew, Thank you so much for not keeping the Battleship New Jersey alive but for making these videos on the Battleship New Jersey, I recently ordered some teakwood of the shop and it just arrived and Im in love, Again thank you. -Jonathan Singh, Santa Fe, New Mexico
In terms of reactivation, to say nothing of trying to get spare parts/replacements for equipment that hasn't been produced for decades and the companies that originally made all that stuff have been out of business for decades. So you would be left with trying to redesign entire systems to accommodate more modern replacements for original gear that could no longer be sourced. Either that or pay through the nose to attempt to get parts custom made to fit 1930's technology and material specifications. One would arguably be better off trying to design a brand new battleship equivalent from scratch.
@@TheJimyyy That was 30 years ago and it was a pain to do then. Would be even more so now. Not saying that it's totally *impossible*, but it would at best be a questionable use of resources.
@@minarchist1776 you’re right on the money here. And to be Frank, it’s only because of one thing: electronics. Think of how far we came between the 40’s & 80’s right? Like decent improvements. But computers were kinda bulky and shitty, and you could do anything a computer could do by hand so it wasn’t that necessary. Now think of how far we’ve come with electronics between 1980 and 2020. It’s been a massive leap not seen anywhere else in history. From 8 tracs to iPhones; reel to reel video recorders to iPhones; wired coms and sensors to iPhones; physical switches to wireless switches (only making the iPhone point to say that we all literally have more processing power in our pockets, than is combined on an Iowa class battleship. The leap is just unreal). So taking all that into consideration, holy hell. You’d have to literally gut the whole thing just to modernise it and bring it up to today’s standards. It’s truly wild to think about.
@@thJune Among my other claims to infamy I was a mustang line officer in the U.S. Navy. One of the ships I was stationed on was the USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). I was on her from 1990-1992. She had been designed and built in the early to mid 1960's. She had 4 computers that she used to maintain a tactical data link. Each of them was roughly the size of a vending machine; 64 bit, 64 K, iron core memory systems. They could have been replaced by a laptop and it would have been a massive increase in the level of computing power available. But the old systems did their job and were rugged, so they were kept. And that's only using roughly 30 year old systems.
@@TheJimyyy As been explained, it takes ENORMOUS amounts of money and effort to reactivate them, if it's even possible (which is doubtful). The engines alone probably need to be completely replaced, and you can't do that without literally sawing the back half of the ship apart. Keeping them in museum-quality is practical, because that's just upkeep and display, not operational. They're all just museum pieces now - there's no hope of ever reactivating them.
@@TheJimyyy Last time was almost 2 decades ago. And read the other posts about how and why it's virtually impossible without major overhauls, and almost certainly massive replacement of parts that (1) we don't have, and (2) we can't make.
A bit more detail on the steam fittings on the deck. If I have this wrong blame the tour guides for the San Diego harbor. One of the lessons learned from the Pearl Harbor attack was that ships took too long to get moving in an emergency situation. So they devised a system to keep the steam systems pressurized even while the ships boilers were offline while in port. To do this they built large concrete slabs, creatively named Big Concrete Blocks or BCBs, and ran steam from boilers on shore out to the BCBs where they were connected to the ship's steam system. That way if they were caught by another surprise attack there was at least a chance to get underway and not be a sitting target.
Funny he mentions the movie Battleship. I about fell out of my chair laughing when they were like "we got one ship left", and then activated it in an hour.
I spent 3 days on the IOWA in 1985 in the Baltic, I am ex Royal Navy it was the only time that the American Navy impressed me !! Especially when doing a full broadside !!
The main steam power takes approximately 4 hours to bring on line, the return steam lines take another 7-9hours. All told it takes right at 12hrs. to get underway.
Just found this channel. I did my high school senior project on WW 2 ships. I spent hours walking the deck of the Missouri while she was still mothballed in Bremerton and of course the New Jersey was moored next to her. A shipyard worker had seen me several times and saw me taking notes and pictures. He asked what I was working on so I told him. Next thing I knew he was taking me on board the New Jersey. I just was able to walk around the deck and into a couple different spaces. Wish I had gotten to see all of it in person like you’re showing!
while the navy doesn't own them, i don't imagine that if the navy said "hey, we really need them back", that the museum would say "no, you can't have em"... especially considerign the kind of situation that would need to be occurring for that to happen
Technically, the Navy could use eminent domain to take them back, although they would have to pay something for them (barring a repo clause in the contract). Probably scrap value plus lost income, not the value of a warship. But as cool as it would be to see these bad boys sailing again, it’s not gonna happen.
I honestly can’t imagine what it would take to get them back in service. Complete engine replacement and electronics, wiring all fuel and water systems. Plus like mentioned above, we don’t even have shells for them anymore. Could we? Yes. Could we build 5 other ships cheaper? Probably. If we need the destructive power that bad, there are other ways to get it done faster and cheaper.
@@danielharnden516 Honestly, most of the engine equipment is probably still in good condition. The boilers and steam piping is where you blow through the money. Lots of certifications for pressurized vessels and steam pipe inspections.
@pearlsnaredrummer77 I totally agree. We know how to work current ships just need gun technology and rail guns make more sense than 16 inch turrets now
Excellent information. Thanks for sharing. Never seen the movie Battleship? Count yourself lucky. I was alternately laughing then yelling at the screen during the miraculous firing up and sailing to action aboard a museum ship.
Iowa had 6 ships. 2 were incomplete. To bring these back, It would go through a few years of repair to bring it up to date like they did last time. Here is some info. The Navy spent about $1.7 billion to modernize and reactivate the four Iowa class battleships. After two and a half decades in "mothballs", Iowa was modernized under the 1980s defense buildup and recommissioned 28 April 1984. They had 6 Iowa class Battleships. Ship 5 to be the Illinois was Cancelled 12 Aug 1945. Ship 6 to be the Kentucky BB 66 Was Scrapped 31 Oct 1958. Iowa BB61 was Decommissioned shortly after the accident 26 Oct 1990. New Jersey BB 62 was Decommissioned 8 Feb 1991. Missouri BB 63 was Decommissioned 31 Mar 1992 & the Wisconsin was Decommissioned 30 Sep 1991. Hope this helps you all.
Propulsion machinery destined for USS Kentucky was divided up ad used in USS Sacremento (AOE 1) and USS Camden (AOE 2) built at Puget sound naval shipyard in the early 60s
@@KaiserStormTracking While gunfire support could have a role, the costs of re-activiating an Iowa would be immense, much less refitting it like that. There's a reason the Navy doesn't even have a heavy-cruiser or similar, they're better off with air support and smaller vessels.
The ship couldn’t be reactivated as we no longer have Sailors with experience and knowledge on how to sail and fight with these ships. It’s a totally different beast to operate compared to modern ships.
The 90s weren't that long ago yet, there are still people who could train people. It's still an awful idea, and maybe even an impossible one, but that's not due to lost knowledge. Not yet anyway.
HMCS Haida is a Canadian WW2 Tribal-class destroyer that was turned into a Museum ship, In the early 2000’s she was dry docked at the docks I was working at, we removed the propellers and sealed the hall up to make it more water tight The props are now on shore beside her for people to see
Literally watched every video this dude has done, knows his stuff, seems like a top man! Good work, I’ve actually learned a tone of stuff! Helped me though lock down and I’m in the UK ha ha
I just wanted to see how politely he could say LOL NO. At this point, it would be more cost efficient to design and build a new battleship than reactivate any of the Iowas
@@SilvaDreams Not necessarily faster. You only need so much speed. If we were to build new battleships, they would almost certainly play the same role as the old ones. Accompany carriers and bombard shore targets. You don't need to do 50 knots for that job. The upgrades would be a modern armor design and to have modern air defense built in. The Iowa's couldn't have too many missiles because the overpressure from the guns destroyed them. A new build could have dedicated protected areas for SAM's. The other thing is this, imagine how much better an inch of armor on a modern tank is compared to a ww2 tank. Now translate that to 16+ inch armor belt of a battleship. Imagine that same ship if we get directed energy weapons in business. A battleship with anti-missile lasers would be a tough out. It likely won't happen though unless we actually get railguns to a functional level. A battleship just can't project power like a carrier, even today. For the expense to be viable, it would need to get a lot of range out of it's main guns. Personally, I like the idea of a conventionally powered capital ship in the fleet just because some of our allies have rules preventing nuclear ships in their water.
Slept on this ship with the boy scouts in 1st grade, the tour still sticks in my mind and was one of the coolest trips I've ever had. Really cool to see what goes on to preserve this so I can take my kids here as well!
how often do you guys oil the teak decks? from what I was told these ships were a nonstop painting project for the navy many people spent their time behind a needle scaler or a paintbrush
they wont let you run the boilers and turbines because those items require certification. Every single valve would have to be re-packed or replaced, most of the piping would be replaced, the oil tanks would have to be heated and cleaned, almost every single bearing in any rotating equipment would require replacement. The boiler tubes and condensate system would likely need replacement. A carbon seal for one side of one of the turbines is about $40,000 as a small example of one of the many thousands of line items required for activation. All custom made bespoke engineered parts, the cost in parts alone would be staggering. Not to mention time in dry dock and almost total disassembly to a bare hull. Big money.
"Refighting the last war" is a phrase I've seen often in reading military histories. Reactivating a WWII battleship would have to be the best means to achieve a forward-looking, 21st century military strategy. However, I can't think of a strategy where 16" guns would win modern battles with their 30-mile range - technology sails on ruthlessly, leaving our "last war" nostalgia in its wake. Thank you for maintaining the New Jersey in Camden. I was able to tour it with my father before he passed in 2010. He was one of the USNA Class of 1943 and served as an officer on destroyers in WWII, Korea, and some peaceful years in the 1950s. He was always full of praise for the seamen and the CPOs.
I like that you are now trying to show a graphic of where you are on the ship. But you show a large part of the ship, could you add an arrow or circle or something like that? Thanks.
@@BattleshipNewJersey If you are doing a long monologue, like in this video, overlaying with a red dot while you are talking would be really cool! Since most of us aren't intimately familiar with the ship, showing a "we are here" sign without a dot still seems a little imprecise/ambiguous
I think many people who've never served aboard in ocean going vessel or worked on an ocean going vessel don't understand that these things require constant maintenance and near-constant attention to remain functional. They can't really be laid up indefinitely and be restarted immediately; it's impossible. Even during mothballing the vessels were monitored and cared for on a daily basis. An ocean going vessel is meant to be under sail (proverbially) and not to sit static for an appreciable amount of time without constant work to maintain its seaworthiness. It's not a car. It's more like a plane, something that requires a continuous investment in order to function. There is no suspended animation for a battleship. I hope people are willing to donate in order to keep this peace of American history functional to where it has the opportunity to educate future generations.
You said that the Navy would not let you use the galley, is that because of many of the cooking equipment is steam powered? Would it be possible to put the galley back in service using an electric flash boiler located ion or near the galley? Could that expand your ability to host events?
I would like to see a video about the routine maintenance of a museum ship. How many man hours are needed each week for sweeping and general cleaning? How often do you need to paint her? How are the painting needs different on the interior and exterior? Do you have troubles with thefts and/or vandalism?
Actually, that's a 150 psi max shore sream supply riser for hotel services, boiler wet lay ups, and such. It will also powerthe reciprocating emergency feed pumps (and light off feed) and fire and bilge pumps. 600PSI Main or Auxiliary steam would blow that riser apart.The light off forced draft blowers are electric motor powered, I think. I'm a 600 psi Tincan engineer, I had orders to a BB when they were recommissioning them in the 80's because not very many people had engineering experience with those plants, although Midway and Coral Sea were close.
I am very gratified that your ongoing concern, as is mine, is to effect such maintenance -- which apparently you are telling me that you don´t even have to do -- to preserve this vessel for the centuries to follow. You don´t have the permissions, the knowledge, or (nearly) the budget (billions!) to make this vessel seaworthy, so the very best you can do is the little stuff, and you are. Keep up the good fight.
The more I watch this channel the more I realize the battle ship concept has come and is long gone. It was conceived and designed to fight a war 70 years ago when weapons and technology was basically line of sight shooting. New missiles can deliver a higher quantity of explosives more accurately and be able to penetrate thicker defenses ANYWHERE in the world and in any weather condition for less money than what it takes to run a battleship. The only thing the battleship excels particularly well at anymore is morale. Both for America and its allies and against those at odds.... Thanks for these videos. They are very informative!
I slept on the USS New Jersey a while back when I was a Cub Scout, one of the best experiences ever… have a few scary stories to tell from the weekend I spent on the ship as well
Having worked in a tech museum for a decade....this kind of work is no fun :/ Restoring by destroying, i mean. Also, screw the navy for not allowing proper work.
@@joshuabaker5712 Huh? Metals and standards for general mechanical engineering have not changed that much since WWII. Not an issue in my experience. Electrical can be problematic if you want to be exact and correct. But metal parts.....thats what machine tools are for
The time and resources needed to reactivate one Iowa class (or South Dakota class) would be better spent building 20 new submarines. Leave the science fiction writers (of movies like Battleship) to their fanciful art. Preserve these ships as history, not a future weapon.
@@josephstevens9888 I agree it’s outdated and it’d be much wiser to build 21st century ships. But I wonder if modern anti-ship missiles would have difficulty penetrating the armor? After all, modern missiles are designed for modern thinner-skinned ships. But even if the armor is up to the task, the very structure of the old ship would likely make it difficult to properly integrate modern missiles, radars, communications, etc.
@@M60E3MG I mean tbh, whether it be an anti ship missile or 16in shell, if one of these boats gets hit, even if it doesn’t penetrate, it’ll have its bell rung so hard that the vibrations from the impact alone will cause multiple triage points all over the ship. Baffles, pipes, nuts, screws, bolts... you’ll have so much rattle loose you’d be knocked to 50% or crippled rather quickly. That’s why the navy went wild with spending all the money on the phalanx systems (which work pretty awesomely I might add).
What a magnificent piece of history she is. Back in the day we had pm cards ( planned maintenance ) that told us the maintenance we had to perform every day, month, and year to keep them in tip top shape. You performed the maintenance and then had your division officer check off as completed. I'm sure that system has changed now in the computer age. Anyways Good job and keep the water out shipmates.
Ohhhh. You HAVE to see the movie “Battleship!” It’s corny, it’s campy, and it’s completely unrealistic. But going back to the time when you were 7 or 8 years old, like me, awestruck at the mere size of the MODEL of the Iowa at the Capitol in Des Moines before trying to imagine how big the real thing actually was, this is the kind of fantasy you might invent. Kind of like my idea of someone bringing the Iowa up the Mississippi to be a museum in its home state. Totally absurd, but fun to imagine. I drive my wife crazy by calling it “the greatest movie of all time,” but my son sure understands! 😉
Agreed. With rail guns and substantially better armor. A battleship built to similar specs and weight of an Iowa would be able to take on a Yamato with trivial ease. Let alone a modern fleet of tin cans.
The cost would be extreme, not billions of dollars more like tens of billions of dollars. ALL of the heavy industry that existed that built these ships is gone. No foundry is able to make the 17" turret face armor anymore let alone the belt armor. Just look at how expensive a Ford class CV is. And it has armor equal to aluminum foil. These ships are the last of a noble breed, let them rest in a job well done.
@@Predator42ID this. I want rail gun battleships so badly. Give them VLS cells and CIWS guns and they'll basically be like a modern Iowa with all the Tomahawk tubes and stuff they added by the end.
@@BattleshipNewJersey It's stupid fun but you are far to close to the source material to turn off your brain and laugh at it. It was worth watching though just to see the Missouri at sea. They also used a bunch of legitimate Iowa class veterans and wounded warriors in the cast.
He could but I don’t think he would be alive to board it. Think of it this way: the Iowa’s were the penultimate (the Montana’s were the ultimate) development of 40 years of Battleship designs and constant building, sailing and improving. All of that knowledge, machinery, tooling and most of all the building expertise is gone and would have to be recreated. So sad but they served a mighty purpose in their day but that day is gone 🙁. Drachinefel on his CZcams channel said we could get the USS constitution back to sea faster than an Iowa and I have no doubt he is right.
@Daniel Harnden I'm pretty sure he said we could get the HMS victory back to sea faster. The Constitution is currently in the water, sea worthy, and practically combat capable as it is now. In fact the Constitution goes on a cruise once every year.
@@micfail2 oh yes, i absolutely love his videos. So much information and Tremendous humor. Between he and Mark Felton, CZcams has become my favorite source of history detail. I will admit I only understand maybe 1/2 his detail lol.
Thank you for the videos. I remember when the Missouri went on tour after it's reactivation in 84 ish. I was living at Hickam at the time and toured the ship then. I have to say that you are taking way better care of the NJ than the Navy did with the Missouri during it's refit and reactivation. The Missouri looked good from the outside but any area that was not seen from the water was extraordinarily rusty. You guys are doing a great job with the NJ and I assume the Missouri is probably better looking today as a museum than it was in the 80s when it was put back into service.
RA: The navy takes extremely good care of its ships. However, the battleships were in deteriorated condition, and were never budgeted the full amount of money needed to fully refurbish their systems and keep them in top condition. In truth they were political statements that served little purpose in a modern navy. (old salt from the era).
In 1990 it costed $1 million a day to operate the ship. A little steep for a primitive war machine. Still, the Iowas bad-ass factor cannot be overstated. Beautiful, majestic vessels!
@@tomo9126 Yes, it is another aircraft carrier. CVN-80. Started August 2017. Expected date of service, 2028. Being built at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, VA.
Gotta say that I paid more attention to the fact that he was wearing a Taney patch, which was the cutter I was stationed aboard when i was in the Coast Guard :)
As someone currently actively serving in the navy these questions always boggle my mind. The navy could court marshal me if it likes but I could list a hundred reasons why you couldn't get me to cruise in a refurbished museum built to fight a war 70+ years ago. An angry Yemeni rebel with a 30 year old exocet ASM and a bit of luck could rattle this old girl apart.
As a Boy Scout back in the early '70s I toured the USS Missouri, which was mothballed in Bremerton, WA. I thought they'd never re-activate it but much to my amazement she was active in the Gulf Wars!
Hello! I'm enjoying the videos...! I'm a volunteer at the USS Alabama, working on the ship's photo darkroom. If you get the chance, talk with the Alabama folks. They have been doing a great job of restoration...especially up in the Navigation bridge/armored bridge/chart house area. When I lived in Mobile several years ago, that whole area was yet to be restored. Now it looks like it just left the Navy Yard.
There goes Ryan throwing cold water on my 'Battleship' scenarios again.
Being the negative Nellie as usual
Yup. I want to hear how it CAN be done, not why it CAN'T be. No excuses, only results! I just want to keep the dream alive man.
@@Synergy7Studios He did say how. The Navy takes it back and does roughly 2 years of work on it but thats never gonna happen because it doesnt belong to the Navy. Ryan keeps notes just incase but i think its really for future curators and volunteers.
@@michaelkennedy272 The contract says that the Navy can terminate the contract and repossess the ship at any time if deemed necessary. So yeah, they can take it back if they want to.
Read the Iowa's contract here. I'm sure it's about identical:
www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/TeamShips/SEA21/InactiveShips/Donation/museum_transfer_contracts/Iowa_Transfer_Contract.pdf
Is it that hard to believe that ten people can get a battleship out to sea, under its own power, in an hour, after sitting 20 years?
Deep down we really just want to see one of these old girls sail under their own power again
Me too. I cry sometimes wishing they would sail again
@@ffandrewd2986 🚣 Sail.
It's sale only if you're selling it 💰
Its to prevent a massive explosion of some kind, or steam cutting stuff.. Ever see them light a boiler lol. Much less the old pipes they could forget one that happens to not be on a schematic and flash boil an entire section of the ship, or worse.. All that has to stand up to Xray examination before signed off on... now anyway. if all of them were burning for an extended period, pop. it would take so much work out of water to bring her back to ability to move. things will have to be cut open on the hull ect. its so much effort a staff of volunteers could never manage it on a capital ship. Unfortunately. Smaller ships, heckin yeah man all day they got a couple that run at least electrical under their own power in the DD class and the like unless im mistaken..
@@jeffjr84 I remember there being an old cargo ship that could run under its own power. The only load it carries, however, is some fuel and a pallet of water bottles.
While these ships are some of the most massive war machines ever built, and certainly fascinating in terms of their time, by the time Iowas were built they were already close to obsolescence or past it. War isn't fought with thick armor and direct fire anymore. While it's neat to see these, if the navy recommissioned a battleship I would shake my head in utter disbelief, unless some set of circumstances meant that air and missile power no longer worked...and in that weird case, how is a battleship going to shoot miles out? There's just no use for these anymore, outside of a teaching history environment. This is where they belong, not at sea or underway. They'd just become a massive tomb for thousands if we ever got desperate enough to reactivate them anyways.
“If the Navy had to take these over again, which they couldn’t do because it does not belong to them” At this point if the Navy came for a 100 year old battleship shit has really hit the fan and they’re not going to care about it being someone’s museum
We don't actually. We've read our contract pretty thoroughly. We have many rules, but keeping them in fighting shape is not one of them. Thats what mothballed ships are, we've been removed from the register and are considered disposed of.
Battleship New Jersey my point was if they need it, things have gone sideways in a big way. In wartime the govt seized machine shops and tooling for the effort.
I think there was another comment from someone else in this thread that got deleted, sorry!
@@BattleshipNewJersey Yeah. In the movie, they had absolutely no other option than to reactivate that ship (well... if they wanted a ship with weapons). It was literally the only ship with weapons available in that area with no possibility for backup.
If you decide to watch it, please record yourself. You could make that a reaction video for the scenes where they get that ship running again. XD
In truth, if they need an Iowa-class type battleship again, they're just better off building a brand new one from scratch and use 21st Century technology like what's in a nuclear submarine or Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier.
"No". So you're saying there's a chance.
Yes!
I would say only in a worst case scenario, & then maybe not even then.
@@sphinxrising1129 In a worst case scenario there is less reason to reactivate them since then you don't have resources to waste.
Who wouldn't want to see one of these operating? If they weren't so expensive to operate...... I remember when Jimmy Carter wanted to scrap them ! We are lucky to have these four dormant volcanoes.
@@daleeasternbrat816 anyone who understands the needs of the Navy and the military would not want to see them operating.
If they reactivated an Iowa class Battleship, I would be first in line at the recruiters office
I've said the same thing about if the Navy were to ever bring back the Tomcat. Though in the 0.001% chance that would ever happen I wouldn't be able to fly since I dont have 20/20 vision. Oh well... We have our own dreams. 😉
@@SOU6900 Supposedly we sold some f-14's to Iran when they were an ally. Those were never returned and whereabouts unknown. Since they could technically now be in the hands or our enemies, to ensure that no f-14 air-frame could ever be used to get one of the missing ones flying, they cut thru the Titanium wing pivot mechanism. I have read that every single one was cut so that if it ever flew, the wings would not pivot and would break off as soon as they created lift. So if all of this is true (Reasonably sure it is) you will never see another F-14 fly.
Well, you are quite safe. You will never join.
@@FlyingAl2006 😆 like I said we can all dream.
@@FlyingAl2006 The F-14s Iran has are more or less operational but an F-18 is more then capable of dealing with F-14s.
The New Jersey couldn't have a better caretaker. not many people have your attention to fine detail. great job man!
Looks like she's in safe hands for sure.
looking at the planks there , not so.. wow are they bad.
We're in the middle of a $10million restoration of the teak, theres a link in the description where you can support that project
@John Stauffer>>>> He should hire my ex wife she was so anal she'd count the water spots on her car and let me know where each one is so I can wax it again ...
@@thekingsilverado9004 with my ex it was spots on the shower door and/or the bathroom faucet. I simply refused to clean the bathroom for about a year and left it for her.. After that, if she had complaints, I never heard about them.
He just told us how to jump start a battleship...
Blink if you're a hostage! ;) 😂
Trust me the cables are much longer and heavier than a Stephen King book...
Quickly! We must save them all! you guys take jersey, me and my lot will take Iowa and drag texas' cold steel ass through the ocean to a tropical island to repairs and a comfy life of lounging around the bay!
Imagine- you go through all the trouble to steal and repair a battleship- just to have it sunk minutes after leaving port, because you neglected to steal an aircraft carrier to get air support.
Boutta take the USS Iowa for a spin tonight
It's a shame that the Missouri and the Wisconsin don't have a CZcams presence like yours. Great job staying interactive!
Respectfully, I'd disagree. The New Jersey CZcams presence helps make it unique, and must help to drive footfall / sponsorship money towards the ship. Missouri and Wisconsin both get many times the number of visitors New Jersey gets (they don't need that boost) - leaving CZcams to New Jersey helps a sister museum raise cash.
How many of the same ship need a CZcams presence? I was aboard Wisconsin and visited the huge museum facility it was amazing.
I must admit that I'm quite surprised that "Battleship" isn't required viewing so that the staff here knows how to stave off an alien invasion should the aliens ever return. It's kinda like Scotsmen who haven't watched the historical documentary "Braveheart." Well, just how do they plan of ever ridding themselves of the English?
"historical documentary "Braveheart." " Quite witty actually.
Thou art a man of class and style! I admit to enjoying classy humor as there's not so much of it on CZcams LOL.
The staff are volunteers from what I understand. I don't think that you can "require" much of them. Just be happy that they just show up.
We are a mix of volunteers and staff but uh yeah, we aren't anticipating an alien attack.
@@BattleshipNewJersey And that's exactly the kind of complacency the alien invaders are counting upon. Write to your Congressional represenatives today!
I hate battleship, literally 2 minutes on google will tell you that dropping the anchor while answering a high bell is a good way to lose the forecastle or the anchor
By the time you get to the point where reactivating a WW-II battleship seems like a good idea, you are probably at the point where nukes are an option also...
Or you have some ridiculously specific conditions. About the only real reason to do it would be if somebody seriously fortified some beaches. Any other conditions would render the BB moot. For example, if the target is more than ~15 miles inland, it is out of realistic bombardment range (considering accuracy and sea keeping).
@@timberwolf1575 the new rail guns that are coming online are designed in part to do the shore bombardment mission with much smaller and lighter hardware and ammo iirc. Also more accurate; I think the projectiles might be able to steer in flight. If not they're still going much faster so the wind and gravity will have less of an effect.
@@Synergy7Studios That's why you take a battleship hull, stick a nuclear reactor in it and replace the 16 inchers with rail guns. It'll have the power to run the rail guns and hte size to mount big ones with plenty of ammo storage capability.
@@Riceball01 You’ve just created a multi-billion dollar target/source of radioactive waste when hit by an enemy railgun projectile or tactical nuclear weapon.
No need for a specialized battleship hull. Build something based on a supertanker; it would be much cheaper and no less useful.
@@mebsrea no iowa class battleship was ever sunk. The armor on the hull was so thick it could not be penetrated by conventional means torpedo or projectile including its own 16 inch guns. It would be much less of a target than you think. If uou are going to use nukes, a battleship is a much lesser target than what you would use it for ie a city or an infrastructure target
For all those fantasizing about this battleship ever being "reactivated" go look at how fast the tanker industry, container ships, and the cruise ship industry send ships with no purpose to a breaking yards in pakistan or india.
It cost gobes of money to keep a ship sitting around doing nothing, and mountains of cash to reactivate a new ship after it has been sitting around. They scrap almost completely new ships everyday, for lack of a purpose. now add in ancient battle ship parts that all have to be custom made. It us not like restoring an old car. There are no junk yards to find parts.
If it was not a museum, it would be scrap metal.
1000% sad but true.
Britain after WW2: -If it was not a museum, it would be- scrap metal.
They have already sent ships away to scrap since the whole CCP coronavirus crap started
@@markusz4447 Like they have any choice. When Britain is still on rationing programs up until the early 1950's while Germany and Japan lifted their even before the 1940's ended...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 I can understand why they had to do it. But for THE navy nation to not at least keep 1 like the Warspite i.e. is a bit of a shame really
I really like the idea of maintaining the appearance by putting the pipe back in place over it. Some less meticulous / caring museums might just chop it off and plate it over.
Texas is doing the best they can with a ship that's far older than ours and decommissioned 50 years before us. They also were the first to do much of this work and didn't have others to learn from, as we do.
Seriously, go look at any nozel that comes out of a pressure vessle. Weld a repad around the pipe and then weld the pipe to it. You can instal the repad in two pieces so it fits past the flange.
@@amirlach I've seen that on merchant vessels for sure. Didnt know what it was called.
@@BattleshipNewJersey If this valve was an electrical hookup for the same purpose, it would be called "hotel power". This is the same idea and how commuter trains are ready to occupy first thing in the morning.
Actually pausing for a thought, your steam valve is more or less the same thing railroads did in the steam days for bringing an engine back around and preheating passenger trains from station platforms. Not everywhere of course but it was one method.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Agreed. It's very easy to criticize other people if you've never walked a mile in their shoes. I'm sure they would love to maintain the ship in perfect condition, but there are only so many dollars to go around. Folks should talk to their elected officials about providing funding. These ships are most definitely a benefit to the economy of their areas.
Not only do they instantly fire it up in the movie _Battleship,_ they fix it all and crewed it with, line, 20 people.
And that included a broadside or 2.
they did have 2 modern destroyer's crew, and the vets, and there is no way the museum staff wouldn't want in. so they likely had at lest 500-600 people, but there is still no way they would get her running so fast.
(also they had the people who where still at pearl harbor to help, so the ship was likely fully crewed)
That movie is about as plausible as "Space Battleship Yamato".
I enjoyed the 2010 live action Space Battleship Yamato. You mean that's not a historical documentary?
Missouri vet here. The term you're searching for is "willing suspension of disbelief." I'm willing to suspend disbelief enough to grant that, given an all-night surge of 'round the clock effort by Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, the battleship could have been physically ready to light off in the morning. I'm willing to grant that enough veterans could be found on Oahu to crew her. I'm willing to grant that, on a base like Pearl, enough obsolete ammo could be found for at least a partial combat loadout. But I'm NOT willing to grant that, with all the active and retired captains and admirals on the beach, they would let a new lieutenant command her! (Oh, and when that 16" shell was HAND-CARRIED down Broadway, when there's a monorail RIGHT THERE intended for JUST that purpose, I really lost it!)
@@ericbowen650 But weren't those broadsides beautiful?
Curator's approach makes sense. Looks like it did when it was a working ship. Good enough.
The laundry uses steam for heat. Hot water for habitation uses steam for heat. The Galley equipment particularly the serving tables and the kettles are steam heated. I am sure that somewhere there is a habitat heating system for maintaining the temperature inside the hull for people comfort purposes. In modern ships , chill water is run for AC purposes .
I noticed the rust and corrosion around the steam pipe right away, then you mentioned the water running down the outside of it into the berthing compartment below. I wondered how you guys were going to deal with that problem. The answer is pretty straight forward.
Your reactivation estimate of one to two years might have been true 10 years ago, but now I would estimate that the length of time to do the job would be three years UNLESS the yard worked 24/7 nonstop and had all the materials necessary (which they won't.) I'd hate to see what would have to be done with the boilers alone, even those laid up properly degrade and corrode internally over time.
I was on active duty the last time the four sisters were brought back into service, it was a hell of a job for three of the four ... your Lady was the most straight forward due to the work put into her during the 1967 reactivation, but now even she will need a lot of work.
I'm glad you folks are taking good care of her, she and her sisters are treasures and pieces of history worthy of preservation.
quick googling told me it took 3-4years to build those ships, its weird to think it would now take 2-3 years get them back working but i understand why, most of the time its simple easier to build new than fix old
@@kiiiisu Yeah having to try and gut a fully built ship is a lot harder than piecing one together before everything is welded, bolted and riveted into place.
The Iowa class, South Dakota class, Bismarck class and King George V class battleships were some of the best looking in the world.
But I as a Canadian, am partial to the Tribal class destroyers because HMCS Haida is our pride and joy. *And the last tribal class on earth*
It would be easier to start over from scratch. I've been reading what a lot of the old crewmen from the Nineties had to say about the IOWAs, that yardbirds were having to make spare parts for them by hand because the original manufacturers are no longer in business. They've been gone since the 1950s. And that was thirty years ago.
What exactly is the nightmare scenario they are trying to prevent by keeping you from using the galley?
They just don't want us touching anything associated with the steam system
@@BattleshipNewJersey there is always the expression about there "being a waiver for everything." Although trying to find a way to make the galley operational without using steam, and preserving the appearance as the design constraints pretty much makes it a project that would likely need an eccentric willing to blow a lot of money. Money that could be better spent on other projects inside the ship.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Before turning it on just make sure no 16" shells were accidently stored in the oven.
Short of loading munitions on board, there aren't many things more dangerous than live steam. The "steam" you see rising from your teapot or pasta water is NOT steam, it it water vapor...basically hot fog. Live steam is the gaseous phase of water (solid/liquid/gas) and contains a LOT of heat energy. The heat, pressure, and steam flow will degrade piping from the inside out, requiring regular inspections of the entire steam system to maintain safety.
On the high-pressure side at 600 PSI the temperature of the steam is about 850 degrees F. A standard broom with a wooden handle is used to search for leaks, as live steam is invisible. Basically, when half the broom disappears, you've found your leak. If you find it first, half of you disappears. A HP steam leak can literally cut a man in half.
Low pressure steam such as found in the galley for the steam-jacket kettles is around 50 PSI and about 300 degrees F. A good leak could almost instantly cook whatever body part it came in contact with, then remove the cooked meat from the bone.
A failure of a safety valve on a boiler could result in a burst boiler, generally called a "boiler explosion" for good reason. If people are in the boiler room at the time, they will not survive. Chances of survival in the neighboring spaces is iffy at best.
So, I guess your "nightmare scenario" would be a burst pipe turning a group of visitors into a pile of dismembered, de-boned, well done stew meat. Sorry for being so graphic, but you only get to screw up with live steam once. Chances are that a screwup will either kill you or leave you wishing that it had.
Welcome to my world for 2 1/2 years of service on a US Navy vessel with a 600-PSI plant. You just try to be as safe as possible, be aware, and don't think of the many things around you that could be instantly lethal.
So the galley equipment runs on steam! I would have expected electricity.
I have faith that we will have a modern day midway scenario and bring her back to life lol
Why? So that it can get sunk by carrier based aircraft or cruise missiles? The battleship died for a reason.
@@turdferguson3803 god forbid someone makes a light hearted comment about a fantasy scenario. Thank you for clarifying.
@@turdferguson3803 you must be fun at parties
@@turdferguson3803 Because it couldn’t be fitted with CIWIS and even more missile systems than they had in the Gulf? Yeah right.
@@whackyjinak4978 If you're going to do that then why not just use a modern missile cruiser like a Kirov lol, you can fit modern equipment to any obsolete ship that doesn't make it practical.
I'm really glad to hear that you keep a book of alterations. Documentation is so important. I'm really glad you keep features like this in place too. Even little details like that pipe fascinate me. Would sealing the space around the pipe with silicone have worked so you didn't have to cut it?
I'd suspect it was not just rain water, etc infiltrating from above, but water condensing on that cold pipe within as well.
Simplest option would have been to empty the system of water but removing the pipe is an effective option.
Reactivating her... a multi-year, multi-billion dollar project that would probably still be a better investment than the Zumwalts.
No it wouldn't. In combat, one missile could cripple maybe even sink the whole ship. İt would be a very expensive and old shooting Practice for any enemy.
@@MisterCaprisun
The same missile would take a Zumwalt to the bottom just the same as an Iowa class. And the Zumwalt have less space and less spare buoyancy to mount anti-missile defenses.
@@aaronp3411 of Course it would. The thing is, zumwalt(s) are so much harder to detect,(I hate zumwalt Class btw) and they have so much higher chance of fighting back
@@MisterCaprisun
While your point of stealth is more than valid, I wish to point out- 16” guns > stealth lol
@@aaronp3411 except, 16 inch guns are not as accurate as an anti ship missile and wont do as much damage (plus, good luck finding 16" shells in 2k20)
Two things we all want in life, happiness and to see these ships in action again.
one will bring the other
Can you do a video on how the battleship used to give artillery support? Like how the soldiers relayed it to the battleship then what happened from there? I’m reading a book about the marines in the pacific theatre and how the ships used to help them out. I’m interested on how the information got relayed and how the ship and ground forces worked together in situations like that.
You might want to look at 'Normandy/Overlord' and how USAAF units were given Spitfires to do the artillery spotting for the navy.
The youtube comments talk about this stuff. Guys in trouble get on the radio, they get patched to the con tower on the battleship. They give coordinates and get outta dodge (at least 1/4 mile away) 9x 2000-lb bombs screaming faster than the speed of sound blow the enemy to kingdom come. Alternatively, the ship can fire one at a time for effect and the ground troops give guidance for where to walk the next shell.
I served aboard a destroyer tender, USS Dixie AD-14. We would typically steam 1 boiler and 1 or 2 generators in port. DDs that came alongside were supplied with auxiliary steam, power and fresh water. Water would come from the pier. If we went "cold iron", everything came from the pier. These connections were for more than getting underway.
I like the "you are here" graphic maybe put in a little red circle.
The presence of the curator cannot be completely described by shapes. Simply due to experimental error in trying to measure it, his position can never be known with certainty. It can, at best, be approximated, in this case with an uncertainty of a deck and a half lol.
@@greentland So you're saying that Ryan respects the Heisenberg Principle?
@@ghost307 I can't be certain... lol.
I like the fact that you are trying to keep the ships features as original as possible and make spaces safe for visitors. I'm the Restoration Specialist from the USS Stewart and USS Cavalla so here is a quick horror story for you. Both of our ships were basically destroyed by the previous "restoration staff". Almost all of the ships features were torched off and scrapped leaving only a bare main deck for visitors to see. Big holes were cut in the side of the ships and many bulkheads were mutilated while trying to make an "exhibit". To make thinks worse men with spray guns came inside and sprayed all bulkheads white and all equipment including indicators, signs, doors, tools, whatever you can imagine. Oil leaks plagued the ship so original documents from the 40s were used as grease rags, most of which I was unable to salvage. The aft. crews berth hatches and scuttles got torched and strange angle iron spikes where welded in its place to attempt a tile floor in there. I popped one open just to find all the remaining artifacts were thrown down in the bilge and devoured by rust and whatever chemical agents were still lingering down there. Also the ship is being fed 500VAC when its needs 440V or less so the old transformers in the engine rooms are probably going to explode one day. I could go on like this all day but having that said I very much appreciate those who care and preserve our history. keep up the good work!
You sir need to reach out to Drachinifel and so a collaboration. Im sure he would be super eager to do videos with you and i suspect it would drive a huge amount of traffic your way. As soon as the pandemic is over he is likely to do some ship tours and reviews. it would be great to see the two of you team up.
He was supposed to come to the ship last spring. One day we will.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Apparently he lost his employment. Maybe he can be sponsored to come over as he probably has a lot more time!
Yes!!
@@lawdawg1942 it sounds like he may be doing youtube full time now. I have no idea how he can work a full time job and put out so much quality content. It's superhuman
@@lawdawg1942 I would definitely contribute to that gofundme or similar fundraiser.
Good video... thanks for clearing up some misunderstandings people have about retired warships.
It is so refreshing to watch a guy that gets it done... Hands on kind of guy without the polished flash that goes no where
Yes you can still get armor grade steel, its actually a low grade equivalent to AH36 alloy...we make it everyday.
The first thing that comes to mind for me when it comes to reactivating the Iowa class is that there are no boiler technicians in the active duty Navy anymore. You'd either have to recall a bunch of 50+ year old sailors to run her or you'd have to convert her to gas turbine. To completely rethink and redo all of her engineering and power systems would be WAY too expensive. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see her sail again. I was on an AOR class during my active duty days and was very proud to see her come along side for refueling more than ones. An awesome sight making me glad she was on our side.
Why not just build a new ship with modern technologies but with a big gun and armour battleship concept?...a long range auto loading gun firing a couple hundred pounds of "fuck you buddy" at even longer ranges than the old ones...probably more accurate with GPS guided rounds like they use in land based artillery..and with metallurgy being more advanced...why not some chobram armour like the Abrams tank 🤔....why not scale up a Abrams tank gun to 10in or so and put it on a ship shooting kinetic rods, hesh or canister shot 🤷♂️
And I think that's what they did in the 80's. They had only been in mothballs for not incredibly long.
@@nickriley4609 because missles are so much better lol
All Battleship New Jersey CZcams channel`s style in one video - Ryan sitting near some cool WW2-era stuff and discover some secrets about amazing feature, bug or technology. No any cool music, visual effects, etc. Just one scene, bunch of information, common sense and history. And I cant stop watching this videos...
Truth be told Iowa was scheduled to go back out in 2005, Missouri and Wisconsin were supposed to go into reserves and be placed in dry dock for further refit and/or maintenance.
Cheney dropped the bomb just after the first gulf war and said the battleship was too costly to maintained, I was in the Navy at the time and one of the few "kids" aboard Missouri, a young GM learning the trade from veterans.
Thing is I'd love to see the big girls come back but agree it would take years to get em back to spec as well as rebuilding both ammunition and replacement parts. On that subject remember one thing the blueprints are still in the archives the Navy never throws paperwork away!
Perhaps they'll build newer BBs or even a battle cruiser with the new rail gun and hyper velocity missile system and again they may not.
One thing though is certain there is no better platform for shore bombardment, 1800 pound hi-caps will decimate a good patch of land especially in a full salvo, secondly Marines loved having "that big grey monster" at their back they knew we were covering their asses!
As to accuracy, you give us the correct coordinates, and we can lay 16 inch ordinance on the pitchers mound in Yankee stadium from the harbor.
Never say never, but with this new Navy who knows.🙄
Can't ya just lie to me once Ryan?
Just once? LOL!
Thanks for all that ya'll do.
Thanks for keeping these ships afloat wish the Royal Navy kept some ww 2 battleships
Indeed 😥
I was on the New Jersey with my scout troop. I was told by an old sailor that the high pressure steam, needed throughout the system, he said 100+psi is now considered a very inefficient system. He told me that modern vessels use a much lower operating pressure, which is less dangerous, and doesn’t require such high maintenance on seal and valves. Btw, the scouts loved the ship, it was a fantastic weekend for scouts and scouters!
Actually the main steam was superheated to 800 degrees F at a pressure of 600+ psig this is considered low pressure as newer steam powered vessels operated at 1200 psig which greatly increases fuel efficiency but can lower reliability of the overall system without proper and constant PM. Look up 'Making Steam:The Life and Times of a US Navy Chief Engineer".
Thank you for taking care of her.. Much appreciated...We love our Iowas...they would still kick ass if needed..
That's a bummer about the galley. It would have been a nice little boost to the museum's piggie bank to be able to sell visitors food in the same place that their grandfathers dined.
We use the parts of the galley that don't rely on steam.
And died
The galley was often used as a makeshift sickbay during battle.
Pretty sure all the museum ships have a part in them about "in case of national emergency, the contract can be terminated and the Navy can re-take the vessel as-is, where-is"
I would assume New Jersey has the same clause. I know Iowa does, and most of the other ones do as well.
So even though the ship "belongs" to the museum.....it really doesn't. They can absolutely take it back if they deem it necessary....which, they obviously are very unlikely to do, but technically speaking....they can.
Could you imagine being able to sail the NJ again? Oh man. Set up a few day cruise.
That was true for a time, however that clause was repealed when the ships were stricken from the Naval Register
@@NFSgadzooks Its still true regardless what clause was repealed . Until that ship is cut up and melted down into new steel , the US govt can take it back at their leisure .
@@NFSgadzooks Iowa's contract was signed after she had already been stricken. So no, that clause is still in effect. The Navy can always come take the ships back if they want.
They actually thought about taking back the Massachusetts and the North Carolina back in the 80s but ultimately just decided to strip parts off of them
These vessels are completely obsolete, no use re-activating them.
You also need steam to run heaters, galley equipment and other steam systems when in port with the boilers in cold iron. The steam connection can also supply steam to other ships. After the 1989 SF earthquake navy ships were used to speed up restarting of power plants using their steam and shore power connections.
If my ship had been in port rather than at sea, I would have been someplace between NAS Alameda and Treasure Island when the quake hit.
That is a 150 psi shore steam line to supply steam to ships services like water heaters, galley steam kettles, steam heat and most importantly the boiler steam blanket. The steam blanket is to keep the boilers with steam to keep air (oxygen)out of the boilers to prevent corrosion inside the 1" boiler tubes leading to a ruptured tube and loss of the boiler till repairs can be made.
What I heard was "were not ALLOWED to reactivate the ship" not "we functionally cannot reactivate the ship"
Seems reasonable for the govt. to have a stipulation that, although we will give you this battleship, we don't want you to actually activate it and terrorize the eastern seaboard :-)
They would never use shore steam to light off the boilers. Shore stream was meant for the auxiliary steam components. Galley, hot water, heaters and such. Shore steam was too dirty, if you ran shore steam through the boilers it would take weeks to get the boiler steam clean enough to keep the boiler tubes from scaling. There is a chemistry involved in boiler water. Once the boilers were lit, and running on their own, then the shore steam would be shut off and disconnected and the ship would provide those services it’s self. The main reason for shore steam was so they could shut down the boilers for maintenance. In some cases it took a week or longer to get the boilers lit and stable before the ship could get underway.
Could you use steam from other ship's boilers to start?
@@microsoftword213 No, the shore steam would just go to the auxiliary equipment, heaters, galley equipment. There would be check valves to prevent shore steam to be routed into the main steam lines.
Sign me up for a "Battleship New Jersey: Keep the Water Out" t-shirt or hat !
Many years after your comment, as the drydocking has just finished, it’s great that the “keep the water on the outside” is still a common and funny phrase. It’s so hilariously obvious. Dare I say, it’s a slightly British humour.
Hey Ryan and crew, Thank you so much for not keeping the Battleship New Jersey alive but for making these videos on the Battleship New Jersey, I recently ordered some teakwood of the shop and it just arrived and Im in love, Again thank you. -Jonathan Singh, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just ordered some teak? Then you've some idea of just flippin' expensive it was to redo her decks. :D
I think he means the small pieces we sell in our giftshop. Starts at $10!
@@BattleshipNewJersey I do mean the small pieces!
Just found this and love it. You explain everything great so I can understand how the ship was designed, and operated.
I'm really loving the 4k bro. Nice!
In terms of reactivation, to say nothing of trying to get spare parts/replacements for equipment that hasn't been produced for decades and the companies that originally made all that stuff have been out of business for decades. So you would be left with trying to redesign entire systems to accommodate more modern replacements for original gear that could no longer be sourced. Either that or pay through the nose to attempt to get parts custom made to fit 1930's technology and material specifications. One would arguably be better off trying to design a brand new battleship equivalent from scratch.
@@TheJimyyy That was 30 years ago and it was a pain to do then. Would be even more so now. Not saying that it's totally *impossible*, but it would at best be a questionable use of resources.
@@minarchist1776 you’re right on the money here. And to be Frank, it’s only because of one thing: electronics. Think of how far we came between the 40’s & 80’s right? Like decent improvements. But computers were kinda bulky and shitty, and you could do anything a computer could do by hand so it wasn’t that necessary. Now think of how far we’ve come with electronics between 1980 and 2020. It’s been a massive leap not seen anywhere else in history. From 8 tracs to iPhones; reel to reel video recorders to iPhones; wired coms and sensors to iPhones; physical switches to wireless switches (only making the iPhone point to say that we all literally have more processing power in our pockets, than is combined on an Iowa class battleship. The leap is just unreal). So taking all that into consideration, holy hell. You’d have to literally gut the whole thing just to modernise it and bring it up to today’s standards. It’s truly wild to think about.
@@thJune Among my other claims to infamy I was a mustang line officer in the U.S. Navy. One of the ships I was stationed on was the USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). I was on her from 1990-1992. She had been designed and built in the early to mid 1960's. She had 4 computers that she used to maintain a tactical data link. Each of them was roughly the size of a vending machine; 64 bit, 64 K, iron core memory systems. They could have been replaced by a laptop and it would have been a massive increase in the level of computing power available. But the old systems did their job and were rugged, so they were kept. And that's only using roughly 30 year old systems.
@@TheJimyyy As been explained, it takes ENORMOUS amounts of money and effort to reactivate them, if it's even possible (which is doubtful). The engines alone probably need to be completely replaced, and you can't do that without literally sawing the back half of the ship apart. Keeping them in museum-quality is practical, because that's just upkeep and display, not operational. They're all just museum pieces now - there's no hope of ever reactivating them.
@@TheJimyyy Last time was almost 2 decades ago. And read the other posts about how and why it's virtually impossible without major overhauls, and almost certainly massive replacement of parts that (1) we don't have, and (2) we can't make.
A bit more detail on the steam fittings on the deck. If I have this wrong blame the tour guides for the San Diego harbor.
One of the lessons learned from the Pearl Harbor attack was that ships took too long to get moving in an emergency situation. So they devised a system to keep the steam systems pressurized even while the ships boilers were offline while in port. To do this they built large concrete slabs, creatively named Big Concrete Blocks or BCBs, and ran steam from boilers on shore out to the BCBs where they were connected to the ship's steam system. That way if they were caught by another surprise attack there was at least a chance to get underway and not be a sitting target.
Funny he mentions the movie Battleship. I about fell out of my chair laughing when they were like "we got one ship left", and then activated it in an hour.
I spent 3 days on the IOWA in 1985 in the Baltic, I am ex Royal Navy it was the only time that the American Navy impressed me !! Especially when doing a full broadside !!
I'd love to see the Iowas sailing again personally. Beautiful ships.
The main steam power takes approximately 4 hours to bring on line, the return steam lines take another 7-9hours. All told it takes right at 12hrs. to get underway.
Just found this channel. I did my high school senior project on WW 2 ships. I spent hours walking the deck of the Missouri while she was still mothballed in Bremerton and of course the New Jersey was moored next to her. A shipyard worker had seen me several times and saw me taking notes and pictures. He asked what I was working on so I told him. Next thing I knew he was taking me on board the New Jersey. I just was able to walk around the deck and into a couple different spaces. Wish I had gotten to see all of it in person like you’re showing!
Just doing minimal maintenance on ship that size is a expensive task.
Even if the ship was not maintained, just berthing it is a money pit.
while the navy doesn't own them, i don't imagine that if the navy said "hey, we really need them back", that the museum would say "no, you can't have em"... especially considerign the kind of situation that would need to be occurring for that to happen
Technically, the Navy could use eminent domain to take them back, although they would have to pay something for them (barring a repo clause in the contract). Probably scrap value plus lost income, not the value of a warship. But as cool as it would be to see these bad boys sailing again, it’s not gonna happen.
I cant see it ever happening, they don't make the ammo or have any trained crew that would be able to run it
I honestly can’t imagine what it would take to get them back in service. Complete engine replacement and electronics, wiring all fuel and water systems. Plus like mentioned above, we don’t even have shells for them anymore. Could we? Yes. Could we build 5 other ships cheaper? Probably. If we need the destructive power that bad, there are other ways to get it done faster and cheaper.
@@danielharnden516 Honestly, most of the engine equipment is probably still in good condition. The boilers and steam piping is where you blow through the money. Lots of certifications for pressurized vessels and steam pipe inspections.
@pearlsnaredrummer77 I totally agree. We know how to work current ships just need gun technology and rail guns make more sense than 16 inch turrets now
Excellent information. Thanks for sharing. Never seen the movie Battleship? Count yourself lucky. I was alternately laughing then yelling at the screen during the miraculous firing up and sailing to action aboard a museum ship.
Amazing, wish I could go on board a battleship and light the boilers back in the early 50s, listening to the ship coming alive must be a total trip.
Iowa had 6 ships. 2 were incomplete. To bring these back, It would go through a few years of repair to bring it up to date like they did last time. Here is some info. The Navy spent about $1.7 billion to modernize and reactivate the four Iowa class battleships. After two and a half decades in "mothballs", Iowa was modernized under the 1980s defense buildup and recommissioned 28 April 1984. They had 6 Iowa class Battleships. Ship 5 to be the Illinois was Cancelled 12 Aug 1945. Ship 6 to be the Kentucky BB 66 Was Scrapped 31 Oct 1958. Iowa BB61 was Decommissioned shortly after the accident 26 Oct 1990. New Jersey BB 62 was Decommissioned 8 Feb 1991. Missouri BB 63 was Decommissioned 31 Mar 1992 & the Wisconsin was Decommissioned 30 Sep 1991. Hope this helps you all.
Maybe the four could be rebuilt with modern engines better deck and replace the main guns with more modern main guns
@@KaiserStormTracking No.
@@KB4QAA How so? A 155mm howitzers could be put on there and they could be able to rotate giving them better cover range
Propulsion machinery destined for USS Kentucky was divided up ad used in USS Sacremento (AOE 1) and USS Camden (AOE 2) built at Puget sound naval shipyard in the early 60s
@@KaiserStormTracking While gunfire support could have a role, the costs of re-activiating an Iowa would be immense, much less refitting it like that. There's a reason the Navy doesn't even have a heavy-cruiser or similar, they're better off with air support and smaller vessels.
The ship couldn’t be reactivated as we no longer have Sailors with experience and knowledge on how to sail and fight with these ships. It’s a totally different beast to operate compared to modern ships.
The 90s weren't that long ago yet, there are still people who could train people. It's still an awful idea, and maybe even an impossible one, but that's not due to lost knowledge. Not yet anyway.
Lmao that's like suggesting young people can't operate a Model T.
@@breckfoster767 Most of them would have to put in a fair bit of work before they could.
@@breckfoster767 That’s right, I bet most young people can’t
@@notmenotme614 You don't know very many young people then
HMCS Haida is a Canadian WW2 Tribal-class destroyer that was turned into a Museum ship,
In the early 2000’s she was dry docked at the docks I was working at, we removed the propellers and sealed the hall up to make it more water tight
The props are now on shore beside her for people to see
Literally watched every video this dude has done, knows his stuff, seems like a top man! Good work, I’ve actually learned a tone of stuff! Helped me though lock down and I’m in the UK ha ha
I just wanted to see how politely he could say LOL NO.
At this point, it would be more cost efficient to design and build a new battleship than reactivate any of the Iowas
New battleships should be named the Second Amendments Right class
@@duckykaze9557 I agree to this statement
Likely cheaper and MUCH faster too.
@@SilvaDreams Not necessarily faster. You only need so much speed. If we were to build new battleships, they would almost certainly play the same role as the old ones. Accompany carriers and bombard shore targets. You don't need to do 50 knots for that job.
The upgrades would be a modern armor design and to have modern air defense built in. The Iowa's couldn't have too many missiles because the overpressure from the guns destroyed them. A new build could have dedicated protected areas for SAM's. The other thing is this, imagine how much better an inch of armor on a modern tank is compared to a ww2 tank. Now translate that to 16+ inch armor belt of a battleship. Imagine that same ship if we get directed energy weapons in business. A battleship with anti-missile lasers would be a tough out.
It likely won't happen though unless we actually get railguns to a functional level. A battleship just can't project power like a carrier, even today. For the expense to be viable, it would need to get a lot of range out of it's main guns. Personally, I like the idea of a conventionally powered capital ship in the fleet just because some of our allies have rules preventing nuclear ships in their water.
That is the same fact the clueless types that talk about "restarting" F-22 production decide to ignore.
I thought that white valve might have been where a boot (greenhorn sailor) went when he was sent to retrieve "a bucket of steam"
Forget the steam.....couple outboards and we gonna have some fun!!
Slept on this ship with the boy scouts in 1st grade, the tour still sticks in my mind and was one of the coolest trips I've ever had. Really cool to see what goes on to preserve this so I can take my kids here as well!
Ryan, I would love to see a reaction video of you watching the USS Missouri scenes from Battleship.
how often do you guys oil the teak decks? from what I was told these ships were a nonstop painting project for the navy many people spent their time behind a needle scaler or a paintbrush
Shit man that's still a full time job on Navy ships today.
they wont let you run the boilers and turbines because those items require certification. Every single valve would have to be re-packed or replaced, most of the piping would be replaced, the oil tanks would have to be heated and cleaned, almost every single bearing in any rotating equipment would require replacement. The boiler tubes and condensate system would likely need replacement. A carbon seal for one side of one of the turbines is about $40,000 as a small example of one of the many thousands of line items required for activation. All custom made bespoke engineered parts, the cost in parts alone would be staggering. Not to mention time in dry dock and almost total disassembly to a bare hull. Big money.
"Refighting the last war" is a phrase I've seen often in reading military histories. Reactivating a WWII battleship would have to be the best means to achieve a forward-looking, 21st century military strategy. However, I can't think of a strategy where 16" guns would win modern battles with their 30-mile range - technology sails on ruthlessly, leaving our "last war" nostalgia in its wake.
Thank you for maintaining the New Jersey in Camden. I was able to tour it with my father before he passed in 2010. He was one of the USNA Class of 1943 and served as an officer on destroyers in WWII, Korea, and some peaceful years in the 1950s. He was always full of praise for the seamen and the CPOs.
I like that you are now trying to show a graphic of where you are on the ship.
But you show a large part of the ship, could you add an arrow or circle or something like that?
Thanks.
For this one were on the main deck, outside. Were right under the you are here sign
@@BattleshipNewJersey If you are doing a long monologue, like in this video, overlaying with a red dot while you are talking would be really cool! Since most of us aren't intimately familiar with the ship, showing a "we are here" sign without a dot still seems a little imprecise/ambiguous
Obviously he has never heard of flex seal! (Joke)
Fiber-fix it...
and sham wows for leak control
Omg... So glad they do things properly and don't resort to half-assery LOL!!!
3M 5200
Ot duct tape!
An interesting look into how museums function.
Thank you.
I think many people who've never served aboard in ocean going vessel or worked on an ocean going vessel don't understand that these things require constant maintenance and near-constant attention to remain functional. They can't really be laid up indefinitely and be restarted immediately; it's impossible. Even during mothballing the vessels were monitored and cared for on a daily basis. An ocean going vessel is meant to be under sail (proverbially) and not to sit static for an appreciable amount of time without constant work to maintain its seaworthiness. It's not a car. It's more like a plane, something that requires a continuous investment in order to function. There is no suspended animation for a battleship.
I hope people are willing to donate in order to keep this peace of American history functional to where it has the opportunity to educate future generations.
We need to bring this ship back on line we are losing the sea war!
Curator Bro: "3 years from now?"
You said that the Navy would not let you use the galley, is that because of many of the cooking equipment is steam powered? Would it be possible to put the galley back in service using an electric flash boiler located ion or near the galley? Could that expand your ability to host events?
We can use the parts of the galley that don't use steam. And we do! Fortunately, thats most of what we could need.
I would like to see a video about the routine maintenance of a museum ship. How many man hours are needed each week for sweeping and general cleaning? How often do you need to paint her? How are the painting needs different on the interior and exterior? Do you have troubles with thefts and/or vandalism?
Actually, that's a 150 psi max shore sream supply riser for hotel services, boiler wet lay ups, and such. It will also powerthe reciprocating emergency feed pumps (and light off feed) and fire and bilge pumps. 600PSI Main or Auxiliary steam would blow that riser apart.The light off forced draft blowers are electric motor powered, I think. I'm a 600 psi Tincan engineer, I had orders to a BB when they were recommissioning them in the 80's because not very many people had engineering experience with those plants, although Midway and Coral Sea were close.
Kinda reminds me of Norm Abram of “This Old House”. If I’m revering his name correctly.
I am very gratified that your ongoing concern, as is mine, is to effect such maintenance -- which apparently you are telling me that you don´t even have to do -- to preserve this vessel for the centuries to follow.
You don´t have the permissions, the knowledge, or (nearly) the budget (billions!) to make this vessel seaworthy, so the very best you can do is the little stuff, and you are.
Keep up the good fight.
The more I watch this channel the more I realize the battle ship concept has come and is long gone. It was conceived and designed to fight a war 70 years ago when weapons and technology was basically line of sight shooting.
New missiles can deliver a higher quantity of explosives more accurately and be able to penetrate thicker defenses ANYWHERE in the world and in any weather condition for less money than what it takes to run a battleship.
The only thing the battleship excels particularly well at anymore is morale. Both for America and its allies and against those at odds....
Thanks for these videos. They are very informative!
I slept on the USS New Jersey a while back when I was a Cub Scout, one of the best experiences ever… have a few scary stories to tell from the weekend I spent on the ship as well
Having worked in a tech museum for a decade....this kind of work is no fun :/ Restoring by destroying, i mean. Also, screw the navy for not allowing proper work.
Proper work of what? Extremely outdated materials that probably nobody manufacturers any longer?
@@joshuabaker5712 Huh? Metals and standards for general mechanical engineering have not changed that much since WWII. Not an issue in my experience. Electrical can be problematic if you want to be exact and correct. But metal parts.....thats what machine tools are for
The time and resources needed to reactivate one Iowa class (or South Dakota class) would be better spent building 20 new submarines. Leave the science fiction writers (of movies like Battleship) to their fanciful art. Preserve these ships as history, not a future weapon.
I totally agree. Build 21st Century warships for 21st Century naval warfare. In the age of hypersonic weapons, the Iowas would be smoked.
The only really useful thing reactivating them would do is to limit the idiots ramming our ships to damage them.
That wasn't even science fiction. That was fantasy, and not particularly well thought out fantasy. :P
@@josephstevens9888 I agree it’s outdated and it’d be much wiser to build 21st century ships. But I wonder if modern anti-ship missiles would have difficulty penetrating the armor? After all, modern missiles are designed for modern thinner-skinned ships. But even if the armor is up to the task, the very structure of the old ship would likely make it difficult to properly integrate modern missiles, radars, communications, etc.
@@M60E3MG I mean tbh, whether it be an anti ship missile or 16in shell, if one of these boats gets hit, even if it doesn’t penetrate, it’ll have its bell rung so hard that the vibrations from the impact alone will cause multiple triage points all over the ship. Baffles, pipes, nuts, screws, bolts... you’ll have so much rattle loose you’d be knocked to 50% or crippled rather quickly. That’s why the navy went wild with spending all the money on the phalanx systems (which work pretty awesomely I might add).
Thank you for keeping these ships around and their history alive. Battleships are so amazing and awe inspiring.
What a magnificent piece of history she is. Back in the day we had pm cards ( planned maintenance ) that told us the maintenance we had to perform every day, month, and year to keep them in tip top shape. You performed the maintenance and then had your division officer check off as completed. I'm sure that system has changed now in the computer age. Anyways Good job and keep the water out shipmates.
Ohhhh. You HAVE to see the movie “Battleship!” It’s corny, it’s campy, and it’s completely unrealistic. But going back to the time when you were 7 or 8 years old, like me, awestruck at the mere size of the MODEL of the Iowa at the Capitol in Des Moines before trying to imagine how big the real thing actually was, this is the kind of fantasy you might invent. Kind of like my idea of someone bringing the Iowa up the Mississippi to be a museum in its home state. Totally absurd, but fun to imagine. I drive my wife crazy by calling it “the greatest movie of all time,” but my son sure understands! 😉
May as well just design & build a new one instead of reactivate it.
Agreed. With rail guns and substantially better armor. A battleship built to similar specs and weight of an Iowa would be able to take on a Yamato with trivial ease. Let alone a modern fleet of tin cans.
The cost would be extreme, not billions of dollars more like tens of billions of dollars. ALL of the heavy industry that existed that built these ships is gone. No foundry is able to make the 17" turret face armor anymore let alone the belt armor. Just look at how expensive a Ford class CV is. And it has armor equal to aluminum foil. These ships are the last of a noble breed, let them rest in a job well done.
That was the idea of the Zumwalt class Destroyer. Which is really a cruiser. A ship with large guns to do shore bombardment.
@@terrydouglas5008 Yeah, too bad they where designed around a gun that will never fire.
@@Predator42ID this. I want rail gun battleships so badly. Give them VLS cells and CIWS guns and they'll basically be like a modern Iowa with all the Tomahawk tubes and stuff they added by the end.
Ryan I really appreciate your work!!
Interesting. I always have wondered about reactivating. Thanks!
You've never watched the movie "Battleship?" Do yourself a favor.....don't!
Yeah. We never will.
@@BattleshipNewJersey It's stupid fun but you are far to close to the source material to turn off your brain and laugh at it. It was worth watching though just to see the Missouri at sea. They also used a bunch of legitimate Iowa class veterans and wounded warriors in the cast.
Fun fact, her "at sea" time in that movie was part of her trip to drydock for repairs.
@@BattleshipNewJersey I know. She was getting pulled by tugs. It was still glorious to see. Nothing looks like a battleship underway.
The movie is absolute trash but to be honest it's kind of fun anyway. There's basically nothing good about it, but it's still entertaining in a way.
Crazy to think that Bill Gates could just write a check for his very own Brand new battleship.
He could but I don’t think he would be alive to board it. Think of it this way: the Iowa’s were the penultimate (the Montana’s were the ultimate) development of 40 years of Battleship designs and constant building, sailing and improving. All of that knowledge, machinery, tooling and most of all the building expertise is gone and would have to be recreated. So sad but they served a mighty purpose in their day but that day is gone 🙁. Drachinefel on his CZcams channel said we could get the USS constitution back to sea faster than an Iowa and I have no doubt he is right.
@Daniel Harnden I'm pretty sure he said we could get the HMS victory back to sea faster. The Constitution is currently in the water, sea worthy, and practically combat capable as it is now. In fact the Constitution goes on a cruise once every year.
@@micfail2 my apologies, you are right.
@@danielharnden516 No need to apologize, I'm glad to stumble across a fellow drach fan :-)
@@micfail2 oh yes, i absolutely love his videos. So much information and Tremendous humor. Between he and Mark Felton, CZcams has become my favorite source of history detail. I will admit I only understand maybe 1/2 his detail lol.
Thank you for the videos. I remember when the Missouri went on tour after it's reactivation in 84 ish. I was living at Hickam at the time and toured the ship then. I have to say that you are taking way better care of the NJ than the Navy did with the Missouri during it's refit and reactivation. The Missouri looked good from the outside but any area that was not seen from the water was extraordinarily rusty. You guys are doing a great job with the NJ and I assume the Missouri is probably better looking today as a museum than it was in the 80s when it was put back into service.
RA: The navy takes extremely good care of its ships. However, the battleships were in deteriorated condition, and were never budgeted the full amount of money needed to fully refurbish their systems and keep them in top condition. In truth they were political statements that served little purpose in a modern navy. (old salt from the era).
When the ship reopens I would love to come meet you and see the ship for the 5th time. Thank you for the videos!
I wish they had left one of the Iowa class battleships and the Enterprise active. Active like like the Constitution, not actually active.
In 1990 it costed $1 million a day to operate the ship. A little steep for a primitive war machine. Still, the Iowas bad-ass factor cannot be overstated. Beautiful, majestic vessels!
There is a new Enterprise under construction.
@@zxej6879 Aircraft Carrier? (I hope!)
@@tomo9126 Yes, it is another aircraft carrier. CVN-80. Started August 2017. Expected date of service, 2028. Being built at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, VA.
No one here appreciates the hard truth. Every time you say it, a little piece of me crumples, falls off the tree, and dies.
Gotta say that I paid more attention to the fact that he was wearing a Taney patch, which was the cutter I was stationed aboard when i was in the Coast Guard :)
As someone currently actively serving in the navy these questions always boggle my mind. The navy could court marshal me if it likes but I could list a hundred reasons why you couldn't get me to cruise in a refurbished museum built to fight a war 70+ years ago. An angry Yemeni rebel with a 30 year old exocet ASM and a bit of luck could rattle this old girl apart.
You gotta admit- it'd be entertaining to watch that weld get slammed with 600PSIG,,,,,*POW!* then watch it sail out into the bay.
LOL, that would give a whole new meaning to the term "Spigot Mortar"
Gosh darned navy, always getting in the way of the navy.
As a Boy Scout back in the early '70s I toured the USS Missouri, which was mothballed in Bremerton, WA. I thought they'd never re-activate it but much to my amazement she was active in the Gulf Wars!
Hello! I'm enjoying the videos...!
I'm a volunteer at the USS Alabama, working on the ship's photo darkroom. If you get the chance, talk with the Alabama folks. They have been doing a great job of restoration...especially up in the Navigation bridge/armored bridge/chart house area. When I lived in Mobile several years ago, that whole area was yet to be restored. Now it looks like it just left the Navy Yard.